I have read enough of your posts to know that your studio is more like the old independent ones than it is like the more Competitive International Studios of today. (I assume that you give them what they want.)

One quick clue as to the type os Studio your run is if you have a Firday evening dance that many of your students go to, yours is the old type.

Another clue is having mixers. Still another is if people laugh at their mistakes, and excuse other folks for making theirs.

Many of today's Studios can not get enough Social Dancers to keep a Friday evening dance going.

Contrary to your first sentence, I tend to think that the, "Social Dancers", are the heart of Ballroom Dancing. (Without them, dancing would die.)

I did not mean to upset anyone. I only asked for opinions on what types of dancing people think fall into the, "Ballroom Dancing" catagory.

I know folks who think that the kind of dancing they do, is the only real form of Ballroom Dancing.

I asked what people thought, "Ballroom Dancing", was because I am not sure we all agree on the answer.

Pivotingfool

Subject:

Message:

Re: What is, "Ballroom Dancing"?

Posted by UraniumSyllabus

6/30/2010 10:07:00 PM

pivotingfool: "I did not mean to upset anyone. I only asked for opinions on what types of dancing people think fall into the, "Ballroom Dancing" catagory."

Well, if you capitalize it, I know exactly what falls into that category.

But, as far as dances in ballrooms are concerned, here's what I've seen:

1) Ballroom Dancing (capitalized, so you know what I mean)2) Swing (all ten thousand variants, just as there are ten thousand variants of samba in Brazil and ten thousand variants of bolero/international rumba in Spain & Latin America)3) The penguin dance, aka the "white guy dance" (at weddings and drunk formals)4) The "white girl dance" (proudly performed anywhere that awkward women and alcohol coincide)5) other multicultural variants of 4&5, and no they're not any better just because the people doing them look "exotic"6) boxer dancing, often on a trampoline floor above the wooden one, and often accompanied with lots of awesomeness

But, if you're looking for the word, "gala," which is what I think you're looking for, only the standard or smooth dances would apply. And with that Cinderellaesque-word said, probably only Viennese waltz, and with a stretch, slow waltz would make the cut. Maybe Polka, too, since that was performed largely at the time. That's not even most of "Ballroom Dancing" (with the capital letters). The emphasized version is pretty precise in what it includes, and the greater majority of us approve on it, so it's the law.